STORYLINE: After a harrowing plane crash, Special Forces veteran James Belmont and his combat dog, Odin, find themselves stranded deep in the Alaskan wilderness. Together, they are forced into a brutal fight for survival against the elements.  (IMDb)

   Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe were the entire ensemble in the 2019 thriller, The Lighthouse.  In 2000, Tom Hanks spent the majority of the movie Castaway, with only a volleyball as a costar.  In Gravity (2013), Sandra Bullock was the primary ensemble cast member, and spent the majority of the screen time without a costar.  In his latest motion picture, the current release, Heart of the Beast, Brad Pitt shares the screen with a K9 companion, and no other cast member. 

    Many stories of survival, centered around man and their furry K9 companions have been projected on to theater screens.   The 2006 Paul Walker  film Eight Below and The Great Alaskan Race (2019) just to name a couple. Heart of the Beast is a new feature in that linage. 

    The tale of survival

 goes for the thrills, a viewer, would expect in such a motion picture.  These thrills seem like they were placed in the movie to keep those watching engaged, as the movies themes, such  as endurance & the bonds between animal and man, overwhelm the story.  The thrills, in The Heart of the Beast, were similar to what can be viewed, in the far more exciting 1997 movie The Edge.

    The bigger problem that faces Heart of the Beast is how emotionally manipulative the movie ends up being.  Often the music well dramatically swell, typically, in some moment of peril, all feels designed to pull at my heart strings, and evoke an emotional reaction from me.  I call it emotional sabotage, and personally find an insulting.  Heart of the Beast is filled with these moments.

   Heart of the Beast is filled with thrills, that were done better in a movie from thirty years ago, while being emotionally sabotaging with his presentation of its material.

    Until next time, I will see you at the movies!